Coming and Going As Winter Leaves

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March's Watercolor Workshop, New Paintings, Workshop Schedule for the Year, and a Special Offer 

March's watercolor workshop at the studio will be "Perch Painting." Not a style of sitting, but a subject... we'll paint a local fish, the perch. (It will be the catch of the day, so the painting may be a yellow perch or a white perch.) On March 25th, we'll get together in the studio to enjoy a meal before we all get down to the business of painting a fish. This will be a classic watercolor study, with a wet-in-wet tinted background and attention to detail. Even so, we'll look at quick ways to add the impression of detail, with less work. That being the case, we will paint with a sleeve full of tricks that any watercolorist, new or old, will be able to use in many different painting situations. 

New Paintings

As the old year passed into the past, I did something I have not done in quite a few years. I made a New Year's Resolution. When I was in grade school, we made resolutions each year, and I soon learned that the only thing that I ever did with a New Year's resolution was break it. Quickly.

This resolution, however, has something different... a second resolution in which I resolve to keep the first resolution. Bam. Problem solved.  And in fact, so far I have kept my new resolution... clear into the beginning of March.  I resolved to complete at least four new paintings each week. (I also resolved to spend at least four hours each day in the studio. Admittedly, I have had to modify that one, making it something more like, "...an average of four hours per day," and I had to include "...or in the frame shop," in order to keep that streak going.)

The thing that I have really been happy about with this more rigorous painting schedule has been the quality of many of the paintings that I have completed. It seems as though the more I push myself to finish paintings, the more I like what I am painting. I think it is because I am spending less time "fussing" with tiny details, and am more rapidly blocking in shapes, colors and values.  When I start to slow down, I don't like the results anywhere nearly as much.

As I finish these new paintings, I have been posting the ones that are not too fussy on Twitter, Facebook, and to a lesser extent, Instagram and Tumblr.  And as a result, I have seen many of these new arrivals find new homes. The paintings are coming and going.  

Workshops for the remainder of 2017 have been scheduled into Sewell Mills Studio.  Plan on participating in them all! 

March 25th............................."Painting a Perch"
May 27th............."Spring Warbler in Watercolor"
July 29th.........................."Workboat Reflection"

September 23rd..............."Farmyard with Cows"
October 28th................."Moody Jack-o-Lantern"
​November 18th.........."Turkey in a Far-Off Field"

SPECIAL OFFER: sign up and pay for two workshops at least two weeks in advance, get $10 off! Offer valid through May, for any of the workshops scheduled. Mention this offer when signing up for the workshops. See here for more information.

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​And finally,
​March's Painting of the month: 

"MOOT VIEW"  14" x 18" framed
original watercolor

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